Mobile Phone Usage Surges in Cuba

Published on: 8th Feb 2009

Note -- this news article is more than a year old.

Cuba's sole mobile phone network, ETECSA says that its subscriber base has surged by 60% to reach nearly half a million customers after the government relaxed the conditions for private citizens to buy mobile phones.

President Raul Castro's government lifted a ban which had restricted
ownership to tourists and VIPs in April last year. Nearly 8,000 new connections
were sold in the first ten days after the restrictions were lifted. The
government also halved the sign-up fee - although it still represents about
three months wages for the average worker.

The local newspaper, Juventud Rebelde reported that around 480,000
cellular lines are now in use, compared with 300,000 before the law change.

The US government also made it easier for Cubans to use mobile phones after
it lifted an import embargo on the handsets and allowed relatives living in the
USA to send phones back home to their families.

"Now that the Cuban people can be trusted with mobile phones, they
should be trusted to speak freely in public," former President Bush said at
the time. "If Raul's serious about his so-called reforms, he will allow
these phones to reach the Cuban people."

ETECSA, a joint venture with Telecom Italia, charges US$2.70 per minute to
call the USA. Making or receiving local calls costs US$0.30 a minute.